This invention relates to a draft plugging device for a chimney flue of a fireplace.
The chimney flue of a fireplace can in many circumstances act to generate significant air flow into or out of a building when the flue is not in use. In some cases, depending upon conditions, warm air rises within the flue so as to generate an air flow out of the flue thus drawing warm air out of the building and hence cold air must enter the building at some other location. In other cases, cold air can pass down the flue to enter the building through the fireplace.
Various proposals have been made to attempt to seal off or reduce this airflow including fireplaces which include doors, various actuation devices which are mechanically moved to close the flue and including the conventional damper which to some extend closes the flue but not sufficiently to prevent air flow.
These devices have generally not been successful and there remains in many cases a serious problem of air flow particularly in cold climates. Mechanical devices which are actuated to close the flue at the upper end, while they may be relatively successful in reducing the air flow, can freeze up and thus prevent the device from being reopened for further use of the flue when the fireplace has a fire.
It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an improved device for plugging a chimney flue.
According to the invention, therefore, there is provided a device for plugging a chimney flue of a fireplace to prevent air movement through the flue when the flue is not in use, the device comprising an elongate hollow wand, an inflatable body mounted on one end of the wand so as to be inflatable by air supplied through the hollow wand from a collapsed condition to an expanded condition in which it can engage an inner periphery of the flue, and a valve member provided on an opposed end of the wand and arranged such that inflation air can be supplied through the valve from an inflation device and such that the valve member can be closed to prevent escape of inflation air from said wand, the wand being formed from a material having properties such that said one end and inflatable body can be supported and manoeuvered by manual movement of said opposed end and such that it can flex sufficiently to pass from the fireplace into the flue.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for plugging a chimney flue of a fireplace to prevent air movement through the flue when the flue is not in use, the method comprising inserting into the flue an elongate hollow wand by manual movement of the wand grasped at one end thereof, said wand having on an opposed end thereof an inflatable body arranged so as to be inflatable by air supplied through the hollow wand and having a valve member on said one end of said hollow wand, supplying inflation air through said hollow wand to said inflatable body so as to expand from a collapsed condition to an expanded condition in which it engages an inner periphery of the flue, said valve member being arranged to prevent escape of the inflation air from said wand, the wand being formed from material having properties such that said opposed end and said inflatable body can be supported and manoeuvered by manual movement of said one end and such that it can flex sufficiently to pass from the fireplace into the flue.
The device can therefore simply be manually inserted into the chimney flue and inflated either by a separate pump which is attached to the valve assembly or by an integral hand pump on the end of the wand remote from the inflatable balloon.
With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, the invention is herein described by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which includes a description of the best mode known to the applicant and of the preferred typical embodiment of the principles of the present invention, in which: